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jroot

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3198 posts in 778 days

Location: Rockwood, Ontario, near Guelph
Hardiness Zone: 5a
Website:

I am a retired teacher with over 30 years of successful teaching ( math, drama, and teaching of the gifted student) , and now have been working in the jewellery business for the past 10 years, with a few brief stints of travel in between. For the past 37 plus years I have lived in Rockwood, ON and enjoyed working a lovely perennial garden.

Several years ago, we moved to a new freehold luxury townhome situated above the river. We love it here, with a protected mixed wood stand between us and the river, although I can usually see the river between the trees. There are trillium and natural orchids growing in this bush, as well as trails that wind for miles along the river. Beautiful.

My biggest challenge has been the creation of new gardens...poor soil, great light, hilly landscape, treed area behind the house, rabbits, deer, and raccoons galore,... In the last few years, I moved about a ton of rock to form the bones of the garden. Then we moved a good number of peony plants, and interesting garden structures to compliment the landscape.

We get the east, south and west light.

There are also some restrictions for the front of the house, but I’m willing to try to bend the rules a little. I have brugmansias out front, and along the back of the house. The beds at the back are varied. Some are tropical, others are like an English border garden disappearing into the woods below. There is so much stuff there, there is hardly any room for weeds, and that suites me just fine....less work to do.

This past year, I moved my fish pond into a raised bed structure with the pond and fountain in the middle into which I put water lilies. The gurgling water makes a relaxing sound for us when we are outside. We get a great view of it when we sit in front of the outdoor fireplace with the dahlia hedge on each side of the fireplace.

-- jroot

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commented on Three New Rose of Sharon #1: Late Aug. 2010 9 hours ago
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replied on September 2 flowers - only a few this time. 1 day ago
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commented on Our "Edibles" #65: The Last of the Tomatoes? 1 day ago
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commented on Our "Edibles" #63: Tomatoes.. Preserving 5 days ago
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commented on Our "Edibles" #63: Tomatoes.. Preserving 6 days ago
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replied on Memorial University Botanical Gardens 9 days ago
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23 comments so far

View MsDebbieP's profile

MsDebbieP

8102 posts in 1148 days
hardiness zone 5b

posted 778 days ago

ooh that sounds so beautiful!!!
(beautiful picture as well)

Looking forward to hearing/seeing all about your gardens.

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a) http://www.execulink.com/~yohan

View GrandmaT's profile

GrandmaT

5305 posts in 1026 days
hardiness zone 5

posted 778 days ago

Hello and WELCOME to GT!!!
Your place and gardens sound lovely. When you have a moment, would love to see photos!! :-)

-- "A beautiful garden is a work of heart" -- Royal Oak, MI - Zone 5

View dini's profile

dini

1503 posts in 865 days
hardiness zone 5

posted 778 days ago

Welcome! Your gardens sound lovely!

-- the day you quit learning is the day you quit living.

View jroot's profile

jroot

3198 posts in 778 days
hardiness zone 5a

posted 777 days ago

Thanks, guys. Much appreciated.

-- jroot

View Jason's profile

Jason

840 posts in 1002 days
hardiness zone 5

posted 777 days ago

Hey, welcome to GT, jroot! You’ve got a lot of great ideas and even better execution!

-- Living on the square...Metro Detroit

View Bon's profile

Bon

5154 posts in 928 days
hardiness zone 5a

posted 776 days ago

Hi Jroot welcome to Gt. Looking forward to seeing your gardens. :-)

-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more

View jroot's profile

jroot

3198 posts in 778 days
hardiness zone 5a

posted 776 days ago

Thanks for the “heads up” about the competition. .... and your vote of confidence. Wow! I’m elated.

-- jroot

View Eklectic's profile

Eklectic

1809 posts in 948 days
hardiness zone 5a

posted 767 days ago

jroot,
you mentioned on another post that your wife is an artist!!
What medium? What does she do? Do you have a blog or a site for her work?

-- Eklectic, Follow my Bliss, South East Ontario 5a

View jroot's profile

jroot

3198 posts in 778 days
hardiness zone 5a

posted 767 days ago

She is a dry brush watercolour specialist, and is also working in oil. Both of these take a long time. We do not have a blog or site for her. Most of her work in the past few years has been commissions based on word of mouth, and from art shows. She is a member of the Guelph Creative Arts Association. It takes her a long time to paint one painting because of her style, and since nearly all her works have been sold and she has no large stock build-up, there is no need for a blog. Thanks for asking though.

Right now she is working on a large painting of some of my brugmansias. That has been for several months. I keep suggesting that she use larger brushes, but she likes her itsy bitsy small ones for detail.

-- jroot

View GrandmaT's profile

GrandmaT

5305 posts in 1026 days
hardiness zone 5

posted 767 days ago

Oh jroot I would love to see that painting when she is done … be nice if you could take a few photos for us.

Truly, I am in total awe of artists. Can’t draw anything to save my life (really tried, long story and most know that I really flunked elementaryand middle school art classes – LOL!!!) At the private school I worked at the art teacher was a fabulous artist in her own right. She did magnificient portrait work in oils. Over the years we became good friends and one year, as a gift, she had me take several photos of our children and she created a very large pencil sketch from the best photo. It is so life-like of our children at that time. It hangs with honor and much love on our prominent living room wall.

-- "A beautiful garden is a work of heart" -- Royal Oak, MI - Zone 5

View Eklectic's profile

Eklectic

1809 posts in 948 days
hardiness zone 5a

posted 767 days ago

Maybe you have some pics of her work! Sounds really interesting!
My mother used to (and still does a little bit) paint both watercolor and oil! She also did enamel on copper: paintings and all sorts of things!

So, I would really appreciate a picture of some of her work, but if it is not possible, it will be my loss I am sure!

-- Eklectic, Follow my Bliss, South East Ontario 5a

View jroot's profile

jroot

3198 posts in 778 days
hardiness zone 5a

posted 765 days ago

Well, Eklectic, the avator is painted by her. She gave me that portrait, so I feel that it is okay to show that one. The others are her property, and she keeps tight control of that. I’m sure you understand.

Anyway, here I am. This is a watercolour using a dry brush technique.

John' Portrait, cropped

The photo doesn’t do it justice, unfortunately.

-- jroot

View MsDebbieP's profile

MsDebbieP

8102 posts in 1148 days
hardiness zone 5b

posted 764 days ago

oh my goodness.
it looks like a photograph it is so real!!
Magnificent work.

I am in awe.

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a) http://www.execulink.com/~yohan

View SonyaJ's profile

SonyaJ

8 posts in 683 days
hardiness zone 5b

posted 679 days ago

Hey jroot: I posted this on my spot . Eventually, I will figure this blogging stuff out.

-- Sonya J

View plantbuddy's profile

plantbuddy

17 posts in 550 days
hardiness zone 5

posted 525 days ago

Hi jroot, I did the same as SonyaJ…so travel on over to my page for reply, thanks.
PlantBuddy.

-- PlantBuddy

View Profenceworks's profile

Profenceworks

15 posts in 250 days

posted 250 days ago

View jroot's profile

jroot

3198 posts in 778 days
hardiness zone 5a

posted 250 days ago

Thanks. I appreciate the vote of confidence.

Nice fences you build. A good fence builds good neighbours.

The portrait disappeared. Here it is, again.

Photobucket has been doing some reorganizing. I’m not sure if it is for the better.

-- jroot

View Robin's profile

Robin

2302 posts in 411 days
hardiness zone 5b

posted 246 days ago

Your wife is extremely talented, please tell her so.

-- Robin, Massachusetts - "Live simply so others can simply live." M. Gandhi

View Robin's profile

Robin

2302 posts in 411 days
hardiness zone 5b

posted 235 days ago

Jroot, what ages/subjects did you teach?

-- Robin, Massachusetts - "Live simply so others can simply live." M. Gandhi

View jroot's profile

jroot

3198 posts in 778 days
hardiness zone 5a

posted 234 days ago

Actually, I taught ages 12, 13, 14 year olds. Lots of fun, – especially when the “hornymones” kicked in. LOL

I have a specialist qualifications in the teaching of the gifted students, and but also specialized in teaching math and drama. Computer studies was also an interest in which I took upgrade courses. Ying & Yang anyone?

My wife is a fine art specialist and graduate of an honours Fine Arts degree from the university of Toronto. Yes, indeed, she is very talented.

You should meet our son …. LOL

-- jroot

View StarrsWife's profile

StarrsWife

36 posts in 232 days
hardiness zone 7

posted 225 days ago

Your wife is VERY talented, and I too am in awe, as I cannot draw a proper stick figure, lol but I do have a VERY green thumb, so I am happy!

-- Jessica~ Oklahoma zone 7 “A genius always presents himself as a fool” ~Anon.

View LadyPantheress's profile

LadyPantheress

43 posts in 207 days
hardiness zone 7

posted 197 days ago

The German Potato Salad is very good. I like this recipe better than the dish you you buy at the Oktoberfest.

Thank you for checking out my recipe post.

Hugs
Brightest Blessings
LP

-- ~ Harm None ~

View Robin's profile

Robin

2302 posts in 411 days
hardiness zone 5b

posted 47 days ago

Congratulations on your two-year anniversary with Garden Tenders, Jroot. Your beautiful gardens, tropical blooms, recipes, beautiful photos and your willingness to share your knowledge with others all help to make GT a great place to share our gardening adventures. I always enjoy reading your posts and learning from you.

-- Robin, Massachusetts - "Live simply so others can simply live." M. Gandhi

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